The most wonderful shopping time of year is almost here! The holidays are fast approaching which means it’s time to take your content strategy to the next level. Follow these tips to help boost your revenue this season.
♦ Seed your holiday content early
According to the National Retail Federation, 40% of holiday shoppers start buying before Halloween. Now is the time to start creating holiday content if you haven’t already. Check out our Key Holiday Dates calendar and take these into consideration when scheduling posts to maximize your earning potential.
Research shows that Black Friday works best when you start creating a buzz early. Think like a shopper when planning your content and get your followers excited about capitalizing on the Black Friday savings.
A Must Read: Jingle Sells: Holiday Marketing for E-commerce
♦ Optimize your content for search
Details matter when it comes to creating content that will pop up on search engines. Review your keywords and tap into what’s trending. Use Google Trends as a keyword research hack. It’s a great (and free!) tool that allows you to see what topics are trending on Google Search engines.
Use keywords throughout your content, including:
Article titles. Leverage Google searches by using autocomplete in the search bar for inspiration or to find related articles. For example, when you type in “gifts for guys”, “gifts for guys under 20” and “gifts for guys who have everything” pop up.
Post URLs. Make these descriptive and related to your post. For example, instead of “/post_2” use “/holiday_gifts_for_him”
Image filenames. Give them a name that is detailed and related to the subject matter of your image to increase searchability.
Social posts. Pinterest and Instagram links often appear in Google search results. Apply your holiday keyword strategy when writing post captions and Pin descriptions.
Pro tip: It can take a few weeks to fine tune your keywords and for Google’s bots to scan your site. To earn higher page-rankings and conversions when it matters most, you must start the process well before the holiday season. Publish your content with seasonally-focused keywords 45 days in advance, which will help you participate in 90% of the search traffic.
A Must Read: 9 Holiday SEO Tips to Maximize Cyber Monday and Black Friday Traffic
♦ Create FOMO-inducing content
FOMO (fear of missing out) can be a powerful marketing lever. Data shows that a majority of people, especially social media users, will buy something just because they don’t want to miss out. Let your readers know popular products might sell out and don’t be afraid to use urgency in your call-to-action (e.g. Buy Now Before It’s Gone!)
The holiday season is all about the sales. Black Friday, Cyber Monday, Single’s Day, etc. create a sense of urgency to purchase while the deals are hot. The thought of losing out on a dollar saved is an powerful driver (see loss aversion psychology). Use countdown timers to raise awareness that sales are coming up and create FOMO on great deals. Reference our weekly sales posts for insight on all upcoming sales and look out for our emails every Tuesday.
A Must Read: 16 Clever FOMO Marketing Examples to Boost Your Sales
Photo via @blaireadiebee
Great tips! Thank you so much for sharing 🙂
You’re welcome, glad you liked the tips!
Amazing break down, keep them coming.
Thank you! We are continuing to push holiday strategy every Friday the remainder of the year.